I notice more and more these days that people are selling fear on Halloween. Unfortunately, I’m not talking about the good fear of haunted houses, horror movies and costumes. I’m talking about the “people are trying to kill/molest your children” fear or the “Your kids might die in a horrible accident” fear. The news is covered with stories on Halloween safety. Some are good with nice tips of pedestrian safety that we need to follow every day. Some are lists and lists of ways your kid’s costume night lead to their death. Maybe they should all just stay home since today’s kids are apparently unable to handle walking down the street in a costume without dying.

If you have a gifted and talented child who can survive the treacherous trek through the neighborhood, they will likely die at home from eating tampered Halloween candy. According to what I read in the news our seemingly normal neighbors have just been biding their time, waiting for the perfect day to kill our children with poisoned candy. Or not. What they don’t tell you is that there has never been a confirmed case of a stranger tampering with Halloween candy. Never. But still we are told to waste the ER’s time in some areas by X-raying candy, throw out homemade goodies and inspect all other candy for tampering. All for unsubstantiated fear.

I won’t even get into the hype over the round up of sex offenders.

Why can’t we just let go of the fear and let our kids have fun for a change?